My cancer story has finally, thankfully come to an end, for the most part.  It’s not something I think about or deal with day to day.  My morning pill is a rote ritual, as mechanical as breathing or brushing my teeth.  My yearly check-up with my endocrinologist at Mayo is something that is built into my calendar; it falls in the summer, so we plan vacation around it.  It’s just something that happens every year, and then we move on. 

And the visit is the same every year, a routine that feels familiar and easy: bloodwork in the morning, followed by an ultrasound of my neck, then lunch at one of our favorite restaurants near the hospital, then a meeting with the doctor in the afternoon. 

We make a trip out of it.  I have family in town we look forward to seeing when we go.  We may plan a trip to the beach or a fun dinner out.  We may get some good time in at the pool.  Or we may laze around doing not much at all but enjoying being together.  My annual Mayo visit doesn’t feel like a chore; it feels like the precursor to a mini vacation. 

Which is a good thing!  I’ll be having these annual check-ups for most of my life, I understand.  My endocrinologist explained to me that this type of cancer, mild as it may be, requires a lengthy follow-up.  So, these visits will continue indefinitely.  Thankfully, we don’t live too far, and thankfully, the care at Mayo is worth the drive. 

In the beginning, we were making that drive every three months.  After I had surgery there and things started to settle down, it was every six months.  When I graduated to once a year, I thought I had conquered Mount Everest.  It felt like a huge accomplishment! 

And that’s where we’ve been for the past few years – making our yearly trip to Mayo, not concerned about what may happen, just taking it in stride.  And for the past few years, my ultrasounds have been clean and my bloodwork stable.  I remain cancer-free.

But I don’t remain unchanged.  I don’t think it’s possible to go through cancer and not learn something, feel something, or change something. 

My takeaways: